# Rift Valley fever outbreaks in Somalia

> Rift Valley fever in Somalia: what it is, the 1997-98 and 2006-07 outbreaks, human cases and deaths by region, links to floods, and the Gulf livestock bans that followed.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/economy/rift-valley-fever-outbreaks-in-somalia/
Last checked: 2026-11-13
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## What the disease is

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a virus that mainly infects sheep, goats, cattle and camels. Animals catch it mostly from mosquito bites. People catch it by touching infected blood, breathing near animals being butchered, drinking raw milk from infected animals, or through mosquito bites. Severe cases can cause blindness, brain infection and bleeding. Outbreaks usually come in years of unusually heavy rain and flooding, which let more mosquitoes hatch ([Wikipedia, Rift Valley fever](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rift_Valley_fever)).

## 1997-98

A major outbreak hit Kenya, [Somalia and Tanzania](/en/relations/tanzania/) in 1997-98, after the El Niño rains and widespread flooding ([WHO Africa, Rift Valley fever](https://www.afro.who.int/pt/node/591)). One Australian government bulletin gives about 89,000 human cases and 478 deaths across the Horn of Africa for the outbreak, dating it 1996-97 ([Australian Department of Agriculture, EAD Bulletin 100](https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/sitecollectiondocuments/animal-plant/animal-health/ead-news-bulletins/ead-bulletin-100.pdf)).

Saudi Arabia then banned livestock from Somalia and its neighbours from February 1998 to May 1999 ([USDA, 1999](https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Livestock+Annual_Riyadh_Saudi+Arabia_09-01-1999.pdf)).

## 2006-07

Heavy rain in southern Somalia in December 2006 brought mosquitoes that spread the virus among herds ([Wikipedia, 2006-2007 East Africa Rift Valley fever outbreak](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006%E2%80%932007_East_Africa_Rift_Valley_fever_outbreak)). From **19 December 2006 to 20 February 2007**, Somalia reported **114 human cases and 51 deaths**, a fatality rate of 45 percent. Three cases were confirmed in a laboratory ([WHO, Disease Outbreak News, 9 May 2007](https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2007_05_09-en)).

| Region | Cases |
|---|---|
| Lower Juba | 73 |
| Gedo | 26 |
| Hiiraan | 7 |
| Middle Shabelle | 4 |
| Middle Juba | 2 |
| Lower Shabelle | 1 |

Source: [WHO, 9 May 2007](https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2007_05_09-en). The regional counts add up to 113, one fewer than the total WHO gives.

The same outbreak caused 684 cases and 155 deaths in Kenya, 333 of them in [North Eastern Province](/en/history/northern-frontier-district-1962-1967/), and 264 cases and 109 deaths in [Tanzania](/en/diaspora/tanzania/) (same source).

## The cost to trade

After an RVF outbreak in Saudi Arabia and Yemen in 2000, Saudi Arabia banned Somali livestock until 2009. In 2016 it imposed a partial ban after RVF and foot-and-mouth disease were found in a few shipments ([Mtimet and others, 2021](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8417120/)). See [Gulf bans on Somali livestock](/en/economy/gulf-bans-on-somali-livestock/).

---
I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.